The 5-foot-3 senior point guard at New Leadership Charter School in Springfield has been officially crowned as the high school girls basketball player of the year in Western Massachusetts.

Abdul-Qaadir, the unanimous choice of The Republican, will be honored Sunday night at the newspaper's 39th High School Basketball Awards Banquet. The honor highlights a program with 138 regional award winners at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

"This means so much to me, it is so special to receive that award after all the great players who have won it," Abdul-Qaadir said. "I was hoping to win it one of these years."

And if it was "unofficial" to this point, Abdul-Qaadir left no doubt that her 2008-09 season and five-year varsity career were ones for the ages.

She averaged a single season state record of 41.8 points per game, set the state's career scoring record with 3,070 points and was honored by Gatorade as its Massachusetts Player of the Year.

Abdul-Qaadir, 18, was the focus of two major milestones this winter.

She surpassed Southwick's Rebecca Lobo as the state's all-time leading scorer - boy or girl - during a game at High school of Commerce Jan 26.

Lobo had set the mark of 2,710 points in four seasons and 91 games through the 1990-91 season.

Three weeks later, Bilqis reached the 3,000 mark during a game against Pioneer Valley Regional.

"It really hasn't set in yet, it doesn't seem real to me sometimes," she said of her career accomplishments.

Abdul-Qaadir is headed to the University of Memphis and will play on a full scholarship at the Division I school.

"I remember coach (Tammy DeGroff) telling me that she had seen a Muslim point guard from Massachusetts playing at AAU tournaments and that she wanted to find out all she could about her," Memphis assistant coach Michael Wholey said. "She was the No. 1 kid we wanted at the No. 1 position we needed."

"People may question her as being undersized, and there is a long list of (recruited) players at that height. But when you talk about her ability to pass, shoot, finish, her quickness, speed and attitude ... those question marks are answered once you see her play."

Abdul-Qaadir plans a pre-med major with an interest in cardiac surgery or the pharmacy field.

She leaves for summer classes and athletic training at Memphis June 6, the same day she graduates from New Leaderships as class valedictorian.

"I'm excited, but a little nervous too," she said.

Abdul-Qaadir also garnered attention for more important reasons, her religious beliefs.

The youngest of eight children, she practiced her Muslim belief of modesty, privacy and morality by wearing a head scarf, a long sleeved shirt and long pants underneath her Wildcats' No. 1 jersey and uniform shorts.

Abdul-Qaadir's first name in Islamic tradition means "Queen of Sheba," a ruler of an ancient kingdom near present day Ethiopia and Yemen. In basketball, she was the queen of the court.

Abdul-Qaadir broke onto the scene as an eighth-grader, when she scored 43 points, had 16 steals and handed out eight assists during her varsity debut.

"I thought she was the best player (at that age) around here since Jamila Wideman," former New leadership coach Joe Maggi said, at the time, in reference to the former Amherst, Stanford and WNBA star. "I think she proved that."

She joined a third-year program that had won only six games, and led it to three semifinal and five tournament appearances while going 71-37.

"We've been one big family, and hopefully I've helped all the girls have fun and get better playing basketball," Abdul-Qaadir said.

Bilqis said that scoring her 1,000th point, during a tournament game her freshman year, still ranks as one of her most cherished memories.

"I'll never forget breaking Rebecca Lobo's record, and I don't think anyone ever anticipated that it (career) would go where it went," she said.

Abdul-Qaadir finished with a 51-point effort in a Division III sectional quarterfinal loss at Sabis.

Her 107-game career included five with 50 or more points, including 56 against St. Mary in December. Her career low was 11, and she missed only one game (right ankle), a tournament game as an eighth grader.

Abdul-Qaadir was also featured on ESPN and in Sports Illustrated this winter.

The award is named for Goodnow, a local pioneer of the girls game who died in 2004. She coached 44 years at Frontier Regional School in South Deerfield before she retired in 2002.